


For All We Know

by AStoneTown



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Goodbyes, Wedding Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 10:30:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12034032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AStoneTown/pseuds/AStoneTown
Summary: “Just one dance,” He told her, before stepping around her, keeping one hand in his and leading her to the dance floor.





	For All We Know

** For All We Know **

_for all we know  
   we may never meet again_

A vision in white, really, was an understatement. The Doctor’s eyes flicked over her form, watching her movements, lingering at her laughing face, occasionally being washed by blue and green lights. It was wrong, he knew, to be creeping outside through a window, but he was nervous. Hundreds of years since he saw her last and she still managed to absolutely wind him just with her existence.

“It’s rude to stare,” A familiar voice cracked through the Doctor’s silent bubble, bringing with it the noises of the night and the bass of the music from inside. He stood up straight and stepped to the side of the window before turning and facing his new companion.

“I’ve always had an eye for beauty, it would be rude not to,” He replied calmly, his aged eyes taking in the person in front of him, careful to not reveal too much, just in case.

“How are you here?” The oh-so-familiar man in front of him spoke spoke, his legs shoulder-width apart and his hands in his pockets in such a familiar gesture the Doctor felt his hearts ache.

“It’s not important,” He replied, his eyes flicking to the building by the side.

“ _Well_ … that’s not strictly true, we both know that, but you haven’t got long, have you?”  The Doctor replied with a swift shake of his head, “Why are you here?”

“To say goodbye.” He answered instantly. The man in front nodded, puffing out his bottom lip and walking towards him.

“How long has it been?”

“Brush up those dormant time senses of yours and you tell me,” He replied, his Scottish accent making the statement come off angrier than he intended.

“Never been too good at determining our age, though, have we?” He paused, “Hundreds of years later, you find a way to safely come here, and all you want to do is say goodbye?”

“There’s something you need to know, Doctor… I believe you deserve to know,” The Time Lord spoke shyly almost, it would have been endearing if the glare on his face wasn’t so prominent it made the metacrisis Doctor clench his pocketed hands into fists.

“What?”

“It’s about the Time War…”

  
\---

The ring was beautiful, unneeded the Doctor had told Rose - _‘we’re bonded, we don’t need rings’_ \- but beautiful non-the-less. White gold, entwined symbols of his language. It felt foreign and heavy on her wedding finger, but her mother told her that was natural.

_‘You saw me after I married himself, kept twisting it about, and even wore it on my thumb at one point. Remember?’_

Rose smiled fondly, unsurprised at her scan of the room to find her new husband missing from the party. It wasn’t like the parties her mother and Pete would throw, although they had rented out the castle-like building for the weekend, inside was party food stomped into lament flooring and children skidding across the floor on their knees, all dancing happily to whatever the DJ played, chasing the bright disco lights as the flitted around the room. It was perfect, really.

Rose, herself, had managed to have a few minutes to herself at a random free table, a light sheen of sweat covering her body, a happy mist of champagne lingered in her head. She spotted her five year brother badly stomp a slow dance with one of his school friends and she couldn’t help the laugh. It was then she spotted the unmistakable behind of her husband walking to the DJ, whispering  something to the man fiddling with the controls before stepping away and walking and leaning against the wall way off to the side.

Slow music begun to play and, inevitably couples started to walk towards the main dance area. Rose caught eyes with the Doctor and knocked her head to the side, a small smile on her face that dropped when she was given a sombre shake of head and sad smile in reply. She stood with all the determination to walk towards him, when she walked into the chest of someone she was sure wasn’t there before. She stepped away, almost ready to apologise when she met the warm gaze of icy blue eyes and all words froze in her throat.

“Hello,” He started quietly, and smiled in what he hoped was a kind manner.

“H-hi,” She replied, blinking hard and shaking her head. She took in his appearance. He was an older man, not just in looks, he just gave off a whole sense of someone that was older. He wore a crisp white shirt, an oddly button jacket and from what she could tell a waistcoat beneath, she smiled as she saw his doc-martin covered feet. Not really wedding attire.

“How do you feel about dancing?” He asked her after allowing her to catalogue the little details about him. He knew she didn’t know who he was, of course she didn’t, but there was a part of her that knew _something_. She was wonderful after all.

“With you? Y-yeah… I’d love it, yeah,” She stumbled, a faint vision of her husband’s sad face hovered in her mind and she shook her head, “But I can’t… I need to speak to Mr. Rose Tyler…” She made no motion to move past the man, and when he took her hands in his she let him, a fluttery feeling in the pits of her stomach.

“Just one dance,” He told her, before stepping around her, keeping one hand in his and leading her to the dance floor. She spared a glance at where she remembered seeing the Doctor previously and found him watching her intently, nodding at her. Nobody paid attention to Rose and the stranger, so many couples surrounded them, even though Rose was one half of the people-of-honour of the night.

The settled in front of each other and in a familiar gesture, though how it was familiar she didn’t know, he awkwardly delayed the beginning of the dance. The chords of ‘Donny Hathaway’ singing ‘For All We Know’ started around the room, and the chatter of the people seemed to die out. The stranger took Rose’s hands in his and stepped closer, leaving little space between them, raising her hands to his chest and holding them there. Time seemed to slow from the moment her hands met his chest, to the moment she realised the double-heartbeat wasn’t a figment of her imagination.

“Doctor,” She breathed out, a statement not a question, though the Doctor nodded anyway, not daring himself to speak. She bit her lip and shook her head, tears welling in her eyes, he could feel her hands clenching his multiple layers before dropping her forehead to also rest on his chest. He moved his hands to her back, pressing lightly and she moved her body closer to his, her hands releasing his clothes and moving around his neck, her head stayed where it was and his arms circled her back.

It wasn’t a dance at all really, but an intimate embrace that had people been paying attention, they would have been questioning who it was exactly that Rose was marrying.

“Why are you here?” She asked, turning her head to the side, inhaling deeply before letting out a shuddering breath.

“Always asking the right questions,” He answered softly, “I had some information to tell your… husband.” He finished awkwardly and cringed as he felt Rose pull away slightly, his hands remained steady on Rose’s waist, and her hands paused on his shoulders, her eyes searching his face.

“This is the last time I’m going to see you,” She stated again, and once again he found himself nodding where it wasn’t needed. “You came to say goodbye?”

“Yes,” He told her quickly. Finding himself blinking rapidly, his eyes itching. Her one hand came up to the corner of her eyes, pausing and dropping there.

“You’re a lot older,” She smiled, “How many…” She trailed off.

“This is my second since…” He let her guess, “Anyway, Rose Tyler, you’re married... To me, sort of.”

“Yeah, you know what Mum is like, the TARDIS is nearly ready for travels and she wanted a proper wedding before we disappeared for days on end… Or, knowing your driving, years.” She joked and he looked offended. “You want to speak to her?”

“And have her slap me for leaving you in Norway? I’m fragile in my old age, Rose,” He told her, only half joking. There was a pause and it was as though his eyes glazed over for a moment, and when he came back to, his sad eyes met hers.

“You have to go?”

“Yes.”

“It never gets easier, this saying goodbye to you, with a huge countdown clock in the background.” She shook her head, “You good? You…you have people?”

“I-I am… I do, yes,” He stopped, “Rose, I have to…” He motioned behind him, both unaware that the metacrisis Doctor was making his way over to them as he did so.

“Okay…” She leant up, dropping a kiss to the corner of his mouth, remaining there for a few moments longer than was appropriate, she pulled back and smiled, “I love your accent by the way. Have fun in that other universe, Doctor, for us.”

“And you…” He told her, dropping his own kiss to her cheek before turning and leaving her there, briefly stopping by her husband before leaving.

Rose felt the cold chill running up her arms, and the familiar feeling of dread travelling up her spine. She knew what was coming next, and found herself gathered tightly in the arms of her Doctor, his face buried in her neck, holding onto her as she felt the tears starting to fall. 

“She’s ready, Rose, our TARDIS,” He whispered in her neck, “Whenever you are.” She pulled back, her eyes watery but a bright smile on her face.

“Oh, I’m ready.”  


_tomorrow may never come  
    for all we know._

**Author's Note:**

> This is one from two years ago from my old (sadly now deleted) rose/doctor fanfiction tumblr. Mistakes are my own. Enjoy!


End file.
